Training Takes Off

Tom teaching a much smaller class

It all started five years ago.  A student friend of mine came to our house on Volcano Island and asked a question.  “Would you be willing to train us as English teachers?”  I was still something of a new teacher myself and I didn’t have any formal curriculum to offer him.  But I did have all my notes from the English teaching course I had taken a year before.  He seemed eager and serious about it, so I agreed.  With three of his friends, we started the English Teacher Training Program.  It was not much to talk about at the beginning—just me sharing with them my notes and giving them encouragement, but it worked.  They started teaching classes.  The classes grew.  All four of those original teachers found opportunities overseas and traveled away, but the group continued on.  The students they taught became the new teachers and the program continues to this day.

When we arrived on Clove Island, everyone one wanted English but English teaching was almost non-existent.  It was like starting over again from square one.  But slowly, with the help of our team, English has been catching on.  At the beginning we simply taught classes, but about a year ago we started doing the teacher trainings again.  Thankfully, the program has been greatly improved by my talented colleagues. And now, slowly interest has grown.

So this month we are doing our teacher training for the third time.  The first time we did the training we had ten students.  The second time fifteen.  This time we had forty-three!  43 apprentice-teachers!  When I arrived before class the room was already packed. Usually we do the training sitting in a semi-circle, but every seat was taken and teachers kept arriving.  First it became a double semi-circle. Then a triple.. They just kept bringing out more desks!  I had only brought twenty copies of the handout so the administrator had to go out twice to make more copies.  Many of them were my former students, so I recognized about half the class, but there were others there too. Many of them had come from villages outside our area.  They are hoping to go back to their village and start their own English programs there.  All these students meant my lesson plan needed adjusting—activities take a lot longer with so many students.  As it was, I still had to rush at the end to finish everything.  But we still managed to have some very good discussion and the class was definitely engaged.  It was exciting to see.  How did this happen?  How did we go from 15 to 43?

Kids in new shirts from a package!

Well, we’ve realized a few things.  Training works.  As teachers gain confidence, students gain confidence in them and the whole program grows in confidence.  Also,sometimes leaving can be a good thing.  We’ve started telling people that our team will be leaving the islands soon.  6 months from now will be the end.  Although Megan and I plan to return, many of our teammates will not.  One of the questions we have been asked again and again is, “What will happen to English teaching?”  It’s a good question.  It also seems to be a good motivator, especially for some of our most excited students, teachers and administrators.  I think that’s the third factor—motivated people who have caught the vision.  Some of these teachers and administrators have realized that we will not always be here.  So they have started to branch out on their own.  They are starting their own association.  They are helping to start programs in other villages.  They are catching a vision, and they are sending potential teachers to our training program. Lots of them!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The song making workshop went well even if our numbers might have been smaller than hoped.  We hope to record a few new songs in the coming weeks. There are now 4 different groups meeting to study together and hopes for more. Peter has been having much better days of school after some hard initial months. We had some good training as a team that is helping to shape our vision and strategy. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that they would be able to effectively train all these English teachers and that we would see more islanders taking ownership! Pray that we would see this kind of motivation and island ownership in all the things we are involved in- not just English teaching. Pray for all those seeking change on the islands and for them to stand strong amidst backlash. Ma Imani has been sick. Pray for healing and relief for her body.